Swanky British retailer Harvey Nichols provoked controversy Friday by using models who look like they have wet themselves for its latest advertising campaign. The ads, which are officially launched Monday, feature smartly-dressed, stony-faced men and women with wet patches on their clothing, along with the advice, “Try to contain your excitement.”

A surplus of radioactive atoms in Japanese trees may point to an unrecorded astronomical event that showered Earth with cosmic rays about 1,200 years ago. Cosmic rays are subatomic particles that are flung through space by various astronomical events, including supernovae and “superflares”—more powerful versions of solar flares that happen on other stars.

As time marches on, a lot of things about society change — but not the need to smooth social interaction with bland, valueless pleasantries. Hence the greeting card industry, which has thrived by printing bland sentiments on folded cardboard, decorated with pictures of kittens hugging. As we go forward into the future, society will need these pleasantries more and more, as the world gets weirder and weirder.

The first official Doctor Who pic of Matt Smith together with new companion Jenna-Louise Coleman has been released by the BBC today. It looks as though the Doctor’s costume change could be more permanent than we first thought. As for Jenna-Louise, we’re still waiting for official confirmation on her name, which is reportedly Clara. Get wallpaper sized version here and here. A couple more pics are coming soon.

A University of Georgia professor of German was arrested Thursday afternoon by Gwinnett County police after dressing up as a woman and agreeing to have sex with an undercover officer, according to Gwinnett County Police Cpl. Jake Smith.

E3 2012 is over and I think I read over 100 articles about all the games, hardware and technology we can look forward to in the upcoming year. I didn’t watch any gameplay videos, however, because it’s hard to enjoy something when your’e trying to hear a person over 45,000 other people playing everything from PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale to Nintendo Land.

Random House/Del Rey is giving away 30 copies of my novel, Year Zero. Free is always good – and better still, winners will get their books almost a month before the publication date. Specifically, we’ll announce the winners a week from today (on Thursday, June 14th), and Random House will ship the books the next morning. They won’t hit stores until July 10th. And depending on where you live along the Del Rey Cargo Zeppelin’s delivery route, you may even have your copy before I have mine. And I’m OK with that (well, barely), because I already know how it ends…

A hidden vitamin in beer and milk called the ‘miracle molecule’ could help fight the fat and make you fitter, scientists have found. New research suggests nicotinamide riboside (NR), a molecule that indirectly influences cell metabolism, could play a part in preventing weight gain and diabetes. It could improve muscular performance and boasts other “extraordinary health benefits,” a Swiss research team said.

9. You’ve got to ask yourself one question. Do I look fabulous? Well, do I punk?

In Texas more women are choosing to carry concealed handguns. Texas designers are answering their pleas for more stylish options to carry discreetly and safely. According to the Texas Department of Public Safety, the number of women who got their concealed handgun license grew by 65 percent between 2006 and 2010, the latest year that data was available.

Freight normally hauled by trucks could one day soon be shipped on an electric-powered overhead guideway across Texas. It may seem like an idea more suitable for Tomorrowland — and artist renderings of the project do resemble Disney’s famed monorail system — but Texas officials are encouraging a privately funded business to get the project up and running, perhaps within six years.